Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has demanded that Israel must pull its troops completely out of Lebanon \u201cunconditionally\u201d.<\/p>\n
Qassem delivered the remarks in a televised address on Friday, on the Muslim holy day of Ashura, hours before the latest round of United States-mediated ceasefire talks between Lebanon and Israel concluded with the signing<\/a> of a framework agreement.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Hezbollah\u2019s demand comes as Israeli troops remain positioned deep inside southern Lebanon. Israeli officials insist they will stay in Lebanon<\/a>, despite Iran saying Israel is obliged to withdraw under the terms of the interim US-Iran ceasefire agreement<\/a> that also covers Lebanon.<\/p>\n Qassem described the US-Iran agreement as an \u201cofficial declaration of defeat\u201d for the US and Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has no option but to withdraw completely from every inch of our Lebanese land,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael must leave unconditionally.\u201d<\/p>\n While Israeli attacks in Lebanon have declined since the renewed ceasefire with Hezbollah<\/a> started last week, they have not stopped<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Friday morning, an Israeli air raid hit the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, while two people were reported killed by an earlier Israeli raid in the town of Mayfadoun.<\/p>\n Israeli forces later dropped leaflets over the southern town of Mansouri, demanding residents leave, according to Lebanese state media, the first such \u2060order issued since the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n An Israeli military \u2060spokesperson said the order was a \u201creminder\u201d to the civilian population that \u201cthe area is within the security zone in which IDF soldiers operate\u201d and for civilians to \u201cnot to be in the area so they won\u2019t be harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n Lebanese officials said Israeli troops are enforcing the zone\u2019s northern boundary \u200cby \u200cfiring at anyone approaching it, including both civilians and Lebanese soldiers.<\/p>\n The Israeli army also claimed on Friday it killed seven Hezbollah members who had transferred weapons near soldiers in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n In a statement on Telegram, the army said it had struck the alleged members near the so-called \u201csecurity zone\u201d in the al-Manzala area that was used as a \u201ccombat and observation post\u201d.<\/p>\n The \u201csecurity zone\u201d is an\u00a0area of southern Lebanon that Israeli forces are occupying north of the Israeli border.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military also reported that four of its soldiers, including two officers, were injured in close-quarter fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon\u2019s Beit Yahoun the day before.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, there has been a reduction of violence, but Israel continues to carry out attacks,\u201d reported Al Jazeera\u2019s Zeina Khodr from Beirut, adding that many of the latest attacks have targeted frontline villages.<\/p>\n Israel wants Hezbollah\u2019s \u2018full disarmament\u2019<\/p>\n Lebanese officials began direct talks with Israel in Washington in April. A fifth round of negotiations began on Tuesday and concluded on Friday with officials from Lebanon, Israel and the US signing a trilateral framework agreement aimed at paving the way for a peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries.<\/p>\n Johnny Tannous, an Al Jazeera correspondent in Lebanon, reported earlier that the talks were meant to have concluded on Thursday, but were extended for an additional day with the aim of reaching an agreement.<\/p>\n Recent discussion has focused on a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to hand some occupied territory back to Lebanon\u2019s military, according to the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n A US State Department official told the agency that Israel had taken a \u201cconcrete step\u201d towards the proposal by pulling back from a part of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. However, Lebanon\u2019s military told Al Jazeera that did not happen.<\/p>\n Zeina Khodr said Israel appears to be conditioning any withdrawal in Lebanon on \u201cHezbollah\u2019s full disarmament\u201d, while pressing for Lebanon\u2019s army to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in areas north of the Litani River, which Israel has been unable to occupy.<\/p>\n Israel believes its continuing attacks on frontline villages gives it more leverage with Lebanon\u2019s government, Khodr cited security sources as saying.<\/p>\n Former Lebanese diplomat Tracy Chamoun told Al Jazeera that Lebanon wants to secure a comprehensive ceasefire that Israel will fully commit to, in addition to Israel\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the meeting [in Washington] is not going very well because the Lebanese delegation is not able to extract any promise or any commitments from Israel on those two points,\u201d said Chamoun.<\/p>\n Hezbollah\u2019s parliamentary bloc has reiterated its refusal to negotiate directly with Israel, and demanded that the Lebanese authorities not grant Israel experimental areas north of the Litani River, Tannous said.<\/p>\n